Affordable Care Act: Free Medical Clinic still needed

Will all Tennesseans get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare? Will free medical clinics close their doors after the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented?

Carolyn Krause/Special to The Oak Ridger

Will all Tennesseans get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare? Will free medical clinics close their doors after the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented?

The answer to each question is “no’, according to Tanya Vargas, founder and co-medical director of the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge and a pediatrician at the Children’s Clinic here. She spoke Monday to the Women Interfaith Dialogue group at Grace Covenant Church.

The missions of the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge are to provide free healthcare and promote a healthy lifestyle to low-income clients in Anderson, Morgan and Roane counties who lack health insurance and cannot afford medical care.

“Some 75 to 80 percent of our clients work at one or more part-time jobs or have a family member who has a job,” she said. “They are not lazy and they are not wanting a handout.”

She noted that after the Supreme Court decision on the Act in June 2012, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam decided not to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid (TennCare) in the state and not to organize a state-run health insurance marketplace.

In Tennessee, almost 17 percent of the state population of 6.5 million — or 918,000 people — have no health insurance. When Obamacare is fully implemented in 2014, 325,000 Tennessee residents will still lack health insurance largely because of the state’s refusal to accept expansion of Medicaid.

“Those making less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $11,490 a year for an individual and $23,550 annually for a family of four, will not have any insurance coverage,” Vargas said. “They will get no TennCare and no subsidies in the form of a tax credit. They are a forgotten population — period.”

Childless adults earning less than $11,490 a year will not qualify for TennCare. Those who will qualify include children under 18, pregnant women, people who are severely disabled mentally or physically, and low- or no-income single parents with dependent children. How will the Affordable Care Act affect the Free Medical Clinic?

“We have had 3,100 patients since early 2010, but potentially 3,000 more patients could seek our services,” the pediatrician said. “Two-thirds, or about 2,000, of our patients earn less than the federal poverty level. We will continue to give them the services they need.”

She noted that about 1,000 of Free Medical Clinic’s clients have an income of 101 to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning that they are eligible for subsidized health insurance from the federal marketplace. The problem is that many physicians in Oak Ridge are not taking new patients, so the Free Medical Clinic will probably continue to treat these clients until local doctors can take them.

Vargas gave several reasons why the 49 million people in the United States who lack health insurance really need it. People without insurance, she said, tend to delay or forego medical care they require; often end up in the emergency room where they are charged more than people who are insured; suffer from stress as they worry about high medical bills; and often die younger than their peers who have health insurance.

“Everyday some Americans have to make the choice between feeding their children and going to the doctor,” she said. “In my opinion, it’s our obligation as a nation to provide healthcare to everyone.

“It makes sense financially to have a healthy population,” she said. “A healthy workforce is good for our country. It’s the ethical right thing to do to take care of people who are sick, especially in the most powerful nation in the world.”